October 8 – October 14

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So this week we have what is arguably the biggest release in gaming, but you’ll have to wait for my game of the week pick to find out why you’re wrong about what it is. (I’m practicing to write for clickbait sites. How’m I doin’?) There are a lot of interesting titles coming out this week, and I’ve carefully curated five that caught my eye for further attention.

CardLife: Cardboard Survival appears to have crossed Minecraft with Nintendo’s LABO. Instead of voxel blocks, everything is made of corrugated cardboard, and crafting works pretty much how you’d expect it to. Sure, it’s yet another crafting-survival-sandbox game, but I like the art design enough that it makes the list.

Car Trader Simulator is exactly what it sounds like: You have to manage your inventory and your reputation as a used car salesman. It’s kind of like House Flipper, but with cheap suits and pinky rings.

If you only know me by my grumpy online persona, you’d think Real Winners: Victoryball wouldn’t be in my wheelhouse, but if you knew my grumpy offline persona you’d think that too. Nonetheless, I was a fan of rules-light arcadey basketball variants back the the NES days, and Real Winners: Victoryball looks to fall into that grouping without falling into the overplayed pixel-art category.

Rogue Bit is a puzzle game where you play as a single bit with the ability to XOR with adjacent bits to change the bytes they’re in. Navigate through the assembly code of a simple computer in an effort to escape. I have no idea how that’s going to play out, but I can’t let it pass by unmentioned.

Terror for Two is an interesting take on the survival horror genre. You have to escape a dark house with horrible wallpaper while also helping your younger brother, who is in a completely different house with horrible green paint, via text messages. The idea of putting a game within another game isn’t new, but this is a fascinating implementation, and I’d be interested to see how it plays out.

But now it’s time for the pick of the week, and it’s the biggest thing happening this week The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories is out on all the consoles this week. It’s a puzzle platformer, similar to Black the Fall and Little Nightmares, but that isn’t what makes it big. The bigness comes from SWERY, who will always hold a place in my heart for making an unlicensed Twin Peaks game. I don’t even know what the game is about (having studiously avoided spoilers via a strategy of not knowing about the game until I read about it on Saturday morning), but I look forward to seeing what trademark weirdness will be at the core of this one.

Felix “Will Get Fooled Again” Threepaper
As someone who stopped answering the call years ago, the most interesting thing to me about Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is its abandonment of a single-player campaign in favour of a battle-royale mode. It’s a direct consequence of the complex tools devs have these days for seeing where and how players spend their time. It also confirms that this franchise has well and truly shifted from being the hunted to the hunter. Another change is you now regenerate health manually, Spidey-style, rather than cowering behind a wall until the red goes away. There will still be Solo Missions, which are basically a tutorial for each class type.

Apparently beach episodes are a trope of anime/manga. As someone who doesn’t know the difference between those two words, the beach DLC for Valkyria Chronicles 4 sails over my head like a well-spiked volleyball. You get to do a beach mission in beach clothes.

Mark of the Ninja comes to consoles this week. A solid stealth perch if you haven’t already tried it.

Space Hulk: Tactics offers turn-based tactics with cards, plus you can play as the Marines or the Tyranids.

However, if I want turn-based tactics I have my faves, and XCOM 2 is it. Which brings me to XCOM 2: War of the Chosen – Tactical Legacy Pack. It’s standalone missions (instead of an addition to the main campaign), plus a bunch of skins and classic maps, but it’s more XCOM 2. Firaxis seems to be trying to get players to come back for one more mission rather than baulk at another full campaign. It’s like a Civ 6 “New Civ” pack that includes a little 50-turn scenario for you to dip your toes in – and you just know it will be bundled into a GOTY edition if you wait a year.

I bought all those new-civ packs as soon as they came out, so XCOM 2 DLC gets my GOTW.

Colleen “momgamer” Hannon

I came here specifically to add my voice in praise of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen – Tactical Legacy Pack. I’m a giant fan of chess-with-guns, and when I heard this was in the works I may have done an embarrassing gamer dance of celebration in my office, to the consternation of my dog. (No one can prove it, though.)

Now that I’ve led off with my GOTW, let me tell you about a couple runners-up. For the Switch, I’m looking forward to Disgaea 1 Complete and The World Ends with You: Final Remix. I tend to play the Switch when I’m on long trips or long waits, and a giant RPG works well. I’ve beaten Breath of the Wild into pudding, and these will be welcome additions to my arsenal.Here's the list, now in release-date order!

PC

10-8

After the Collapse

Dark Core

Fallen Sky Online

Hinterhalt 2

NearEscape

Real Winners: Victoryball

Saturnine

Space Ashes

Space Raiders

Star Trek: En Territoire Alien

TouHouAsked

Tunshi Kongming Legends

Vulcan Sacrifice

10-9

Achievement Collector: Space

Battle for Gaming

CardLife: Cardboard Survival

CINERIS SOMNIA

Cold Blooded Cube

Construct PRO

Crashbots

In The Dark

Mark of the Ninja Remastered

My Memory of Us

Nevsky Run

Overclocked

Pinball FX3: Williams Pinball - Volume 1

Poker Tower Defense

Puzzle Plunder

Shortest Trip to Earth

Space Hulk: Tactics

Survival Hell

Taekwondo Grand Prix

The Mummy Pharaoh

Valkyria Chronicles 4: Squad E, to the Beach!

Washed Up Wizard

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen - Tactical Legacy Pack

10-10

3Buttons

40 Winks

ANTIFECTOR

Bigger Guns

Blocky Snake

Car Trader Simulator

Deadly Curse: Insane Nightmare

Grottesco Absurdus

House Of Plague 0

Jar Battlers

Lawnmower Game 3: Horror

Rogue Bit

SEPTEMBER 1999

Shoottris: Beyond the Classic Game

Spitkiss

Tale of Legends

TAYAL

Terror for Two

The Lift

10-11

AHEGAL

Be hate Free: Interactive

Best Life Simulator

Blades of Worlds

CICADS 3301

Dega Madness

El Pansas

ELDERBORN

I love the money

Joggernauts

Offside

Pan Panda

Papper Balls

Pixel Shield

POWERCUT, Inc.

Soul-Ivy: C0

Space Bugs

Stay Out of the House

Sweet Seasons

The Captives: Plot of the Demiurge

The Light Keeps Us Safe

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories

Timberman VS

Time Splatter

TOK

10-12

bLogic Blox

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Chroma Shift

Crashphalt

Death Voting Game

Deliverace

DotX

Dragon Defense

DUCK CASINO: BULLET

Grim Nights

HORROR MAZE - Dungeon Edition

HORROR MAZE - Sci-Fi Edition

INSPACE 2980

Kolkhoz: The Red Wedge

Mariner Accident

Medieval Battle Simulator

President Yukino

Save Homeworld

Space Pilgrim Academy: Year 3

Sunny Shine Funland!

TEXT

The Momo Game

TheMemory

White Dove

10-13

Teck Boxing 3D

PS4

10-9

Disgaea 1 Complete

Evasion

Home Sweet Home

Mark of the Ninja Remastered

My Memory of Us

Pinball FX3: Williams Pinball - Volume 1

Space Hulk: Tactics

Stranded Deep

Super Blackjack Battle II Turbo Edition: The Card Warriors

Valkyria Chronicles 4: Squad E, to the Beach!

WWE 2K19

10-11

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories

10-12

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

PSVR

10-9

The Exorcist: Legion VR, Episodes 4 & 5

Home Sweet Home

Xbox One

Xbon1

10-9

Home Sweet Home

Mark of the Ninja Remastered

My Memory Of Us

Pinball FX3: Williams Pinball - Volume 1

Space Hulk: Tactics

Stranded Deep

Valkyria Chronicles 4: Squad E, to the Beach!

Warface

10-10

Chronus Arc

Devious Dungeon

10-11

Spencer

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories

10-12

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4

Switch

10-8

Bombing Busters

10-9

Disgaea 1 Complete

Goosebumps: The Game

Mark of the Ninja Remastered

Pinball FX3: Williams Pinball - Volume 1

Valkyria Chronicles 4: Squad E, to the Beach!

10-10

Shift Happens

10-11

Battle Group 2

Boom Ball: Boost Edition

Chasm

Child of Light

Dungeon Village

Feral Fury

Game Dev Story

Hot Springs Story

Iris School of Wizardry -Vinculum Hearts-

Joggernauts

Madorica Real Estate

The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories

The Swindle

Tricky Towers

10-12

The World Ends with You: Final Remix

3DS

10-12

Luigi's Mansion

RIFT

10-9

Evasion

The Great C

10-10

Dark Nebula VR

Dinosaur Safari VR

DoodleVR

10-11

Lolly Pang VR

Weaponry Dealer VR

Vive

10-9

Evasion

RevelationTrestan

The Great C

VR2-Sanguo Warriors VR2

10-10

Dark Nebula VR

DoodleVR

Poisoner

10-11

In Memory

Lolly Pang VR

10-13

Comments

Only issue I see here is that Swery's bag of tricks continues to be ripped straight from David Lynch, but otherwise he's got my attention again. Even if his weirdness is somewhat unoriginal there isn't anyone out there hitting quite the same notes.

NSMike wrote:

How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.